Resurrection Mall available now from Down & Out Books.
Look for the newest Nick Forte novel, Bad Samaritan, in January, also from Down & Out Books.

One Bite at a Time

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity

The Creatures,
Crimes, and Creativity conference shifted its venue this year from Hunt Valley
to Columbia MD, a moved I applauded immediately as it shortened my travel by
more than half. This prompted The Beloved Spouse to come with, which inspired
us to get a room so there would be no conflicts over how much one of us (okay,
me) would spend at the bar.

This was my third
C3, and easily the best from my perspective. A distillation of panels follows:

The organizers
showed remarkable—maybe even foolhardy—courage by opening the conference with
me moderating a panel. Not just any panel. I brought my hard-boiled, gritty
crime fiction sensitivities to moderate two others whose self-descriptions
include “paranormal, horror, and romantic suspense” and “romance, paranormal
thrillers, and science fiction.” Panelists Sandra R. Webster and B.R.
Kingsolver showed great good will and remarkable patience and we put on what I
heard was a pretty good show.

My reward for
surviving the moderator’s gig was getting to share a panel with Donna Andrews
and Mille Mack. Allan Ansorge had to do the heavy lifting this time. I got to
run my mouth and let him worry about keeping things moving, which he did
admirably. If the audience had half as much fun as I did, they left happy.

Friday 3:00 Reed
Farrel Coleman: Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing

“Master classes”
such as this can often devolve into discussions—or rants--about the publishing
industry. Reed didn’t ignore this altogether, but made it plain the craft must
always come first. Some salient points I hope my notes did justice to
(understanding each point had fuller discussion):

Writers are in the entertainment business. Never forget that,
regardless of genre.

He always looked at writing as his job, no matter what paid the
bills at a given time. (A poetry teacher once made the class raise their
hands and take an oath that they would always think of themselves as
writers no matter what else they were doing.) Among the things that paid
the bills were selling baby food and cars (not simultaneously), freight
forwarder, and delivering heating oil.

No one should ever say they “want to be a writer.” You just be a writer. It’s not like
astronaut or cop or lawyer, where you have to be certified.

This is your job. You have to do it every day.

Few people can tell you “yes.” Many can tell you “no.” Editors aren’t
fired for saying “no.” They’re fired for saying “yes” to something that
doesn’t work out

The best way to get better is to be honest with yourself about when
you’re doing your best work.

It’s hard for you to tell if your book is good; you’re too close to
it. All you can tell is if you did your best.

When deciding to accept editorial advice, always remember: in the
end, it’s not the editor’s name that goes on the book.

The problems with a book are usually in the seeds. He reads the
entire book every day before starting to write, at least for the first 25
– 50 pages. Hemingway and Daniel Woodrell read the whole book every day
before starting with new work.

Always know what the book is about before writing it so you can
stay on track. You can always go on a detour or take a siding, but you
have to know the primary direction.

Ideas don’t sustain books. Good writing sustains books.

He takes a week off after finishing a draft before starting edits.

Yeah, that’s a lot;
it was an action-packed 45 minutes. That said, educational benefits aside it
was a treat to see someone so obviously enthused about his profession.

Friday 4:00
Humor: What is and Isn’t. Belinda Gordon, moderator.

As could be
expected from the title, this was great fun.

Jeff Markowitz
never cuts a funny scene because it “gets in the way of the story.” If he
thinks the scene is funny enough, he’ll re-write the story.

Donna Andrews:
There will always be someone who doesn’t think something is funny. (Editor’s
Note: I was not aware Donna knew my second wife.)

Donna Andrews:
Comedic timing comes from precise wording.

Leaving a scene
short of the punchline then coming back much later is a favorite technique of
Jeff Markowitz.

Allan Ansorge: The
best way to write comedy is with something plausible but impossible. It can be
bizarre but will work if you sell it properly. He also thinks his reader’s
letters are often funnier than what he wrote.

Keynote Speaker:
Reed Farrel Coleman

Among the joys of
any C3 con is the opportunity to have dinner together, as the registration fee
includes all meals. Reed Farrel Coleman served as after dinner speaker on
Friday. His talk covered some of the same ground as the 3:00 session, but with
a different slant. By the end everyone—including
readers—was primed to get some writing done.

Reed Farrel
Coleman: Real fights generally occur when one guy is pretty sure he can take
the

other, or someone’s
tempter explodes. They last about two punches, then both parties wind up on the
ground for a test of wills.

Craig Robertson:
Fights are like sex. The buildup is key and they last longer in fiction than in
life.

Craig Robertson:
Describing a fight should be less about the technique than in getting the
reader involved in the action.

Reed Farrel
Coleman: Footwork is key in a fight. When he has a technique question, he calls
Tom Schreck, a fellow writer who is also a boxing judge. (Editor’s Note: Tom
Schreck is a fine writer in his own right. His Duffy Dombrowski series is great
fun.)

Reed Farrel
Coleman: Knowing how to choke someone is a good way to overcome a size
disadvantage. A person will pass out long before they die.

Reed Farrell
Coleman: You can’t sustain a fight scene as long in a book as you can in a
movie.

Craig Robertson:
The less I show, the more people get scared. Readers fill in the blanks with
what scares them.

Both Reed and Craig
agree that movies do a disservice to the aftermath of a fight. A person hit
hard in the head does not remember getting hit. Fights have consequences even
for the winner. Writers need to tailor the fight scenes so the characters
involved can still do what’s required of them in subsequent scenes. PTSD is an
issue no matter who wins the fight. Repercussions are always present.
Psychological trauma can result even when nothing bad happens physically.

Lots of ways to order Res Mall

Worst Enemies, Book 1 of the Penns River series

Click the cover to buy

Grind Joint, Book 2 of the Penns River series

Click the cover to buy

Forte 4: A Dangerous Lesson Available Now! Click the image below to purchase.

Chicago Private Investigator Nick Forte’s official task is to find out what he can about Jennifer Vandenbusch’s new suitor, who fails to measure up in the eyes of the family matriarch, Jennifer’s grandmother. This seems par for the course for Forte, as his personal life has been leading him through a series of men who treat women badly, though none nearly as badly as the Thursday Night Slasher. Forte lives on the fringes of the investigation run by his old friend Sonny Ng until elements of Forte’s case and life dovetail with the Slasher investigation, leading to Forte discovering more about the crimes—and himself—than he wanted to know.

The Man in the Window

"...we see him getting rougher, tougher and darker book by book. There are multiple twists in the end, two cool sidekicks, good action scenes and some pretty nifty Chanderlisms in this book, adding up to a perfect PI read"--Sons of Spade blog

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (Nick Forte 2)

It's a kind of authorial magic that The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of works as a tribute and as a story, and that neither aspect interferes in the least with the other… I can imagine this book finding its way into a class on writing crime fiction as an example of how to pay tribute to one's predecessors while at the same time writing a story that can stand on its own. It's an impressive accomplishment.--- Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders, December 18, 2014

About Me

Two of my Nick Forte Private investigator novels (A SMALL SACRIFICE and THE MAN IN THE WINDOW) received nominations for Shamus Awards. I also write a series of police procedurals set in the economically depressed town of Penns River PA, published by Down & Out Books. A non-fiction essay, “Chandler’s Heroes,” appeared in Spinetingler Magazine online in October of 2013.
I live in Laurel MD with The Beloved Spouse.